Yuck! Poop in My Washing Machine?!

 Cloth diapers. Ewwww…right?! I know what you’re thinking. In your head, you have a picture of a white (maybe a little off-white now) dish towel that is somehow wrapped around the baby’s bum and held together with safety pins. Did I get it right? That’s the image I had in my head too when I first heard of cloth diapers! Let me tell you how wrong I was!

When we first found out we were pregnant with Remy, I went on a researching rampage! That’s my nature – I’m a scientist at heart. I researched on how to have an easy pregnancy, how to have an easy delivery, baby led weaning, cloth diapers…you get the picture. When I first discussed the topic of cloth diapers with my husband, he was actually very open to the idea and we decided that we would at least “try” them out. I mean, I was very gung-ho about cloth diapers, but even I didn’t know if I could handle all that poo. My mother-in-law (who would be taking care of Remy when I went back to work) was so adamantly against the idea, she actually said she was going to buy her own disposable diapers to use! But here’s how cloth diapers surprised all of us and may surprise you too!

1. Saves the environment

This is a given! With cloth diapers, you’re not filling up the landfill with disposable ones, which can cause many problems. First, disposable diapers do not degrade well in a landfill, allowing the untreated waste to possibly contaminate groundwater. What’s more is that the tons of decomposing disposable diapers release methane gas, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, causing the Earth’s climate changes.

On the flip side, washing cloth diapers can consume more water and energy. However, I have not noticed a major increase in our quarterly water bill as shown below. Our February 2017 water bill was $67.51 and our February 2018 water bill was $104.71. That’s only a difference of less than $10 per month! And to be honest, we’re washing more to begin with for Remy’s clothes, burp cloths, bibs, etc. These are things we would’ve washed anyways and I’m only doing 1-2 loads of laundry twice a week. Our energy bill varies greatly month to month and also dependent on the weather, so that is harder to tell.